Brutal winter killed many central Ohio trees

Friday

Jun 13, 2014 at 12:01 AMJun 13, 2014 at 8:46 AM

Weeping cherry trees have more reason to cry this year. The brutal winter proved fatal to some weeping cherries and many other trees popular with central Ohioans. "We've been diagnosing quite a bit of winter kill, much to the chagrin of some homeowners," said Kevin Masters, owner of Kevin Masters Arborist Services in Worthington.

Jim Weiker, The Columbus Dispatch

Weeping cherry trees have more reason to cry this year.

The brutal winter proved fatal to some weeping cherries and many other trees popular with central Ohioans.

“We’ve been diagnosing quite a bit of winter kill, much to the chagrin of some homeowners,” said Kevin Masters, owner of Kevin Masters Arborist Services in Worthington.

“I’ve met with a lot of people who have walked out their front door and were just crushed because their prized this or prized that is dead.”

Besides fruit trees such as cherries and plums, the winter was especially hard on dogwoods and warm-climate trees that have grown popular in central Ohio, including Southern magnolia, sweetgum and mimosa.

Even normally hardy species such as maples suffered if they were newly planted or already compromised.

“For a lot of young trees that hadn’t been established or stressed trees — that weather helped finish them off,” said Chris Ahlum, vice president of Ahlum & Arbor Tree Preservation in Columbus.

Ahlum estimates that he has seen 25 percent more dead trees this spring than typical.

“It’s been a long time since we had cold like that, especially sustained so long,” Ahlum said.

Kimberly Young of Delaware kept waiting for a sweetgum and cherry to bud this spring, but finally gave up when only a handful of leaves appeared on the trees.

“The sweetgum is the puniest-looking thing,” she said. “It’s 12 feet high and has 100 leaves on it.”

Young said both trees were on the property when she and her family moved into the home 13 years ago.

“They’re established trees,” she said. “Within our neighborhood, other sweetgum trees are dead, deader than a doornail. They’ve been completely ruined by the cold.”

Young contacted Westerville arborist Joe Russell, owner of Russell Tree Experts, who plans to remove the trees next week and replace the sweetgum with an elm and the cherry with a Butterflies magnolia.

“I would say it’s the worst die-back I’ve seen in central Ohio since I got here 12 years ago,” Russell said.

The cost to remove a tree can vary from $250 to more than $5,000, depending largely on the size of the tree and its proximity to buildings, but arborists say most trees will cost $500 to $2,000 to remove.

Arborists noted that mild recent winters, coupled with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 decision to change central Ohio from a Zone 5 to Zone 6 on the U.S. planting map, has encouraged central Ohioans to take more risks with planting Southern trees.

“We try to push the envelope too much,” Ahlum said.

If homeowners do want a Southern tree variety, arborists advise getting one that was cultivated in a Northern climate, not in a Southern nursery.

The winter freeze comes on top of a string of other threats to central Ohio trees, such as the emerald ash borer and fungal diseases, including anthracnose.

“To make things worse, we’ve had ideal conditions for foliar fungus, as well,” Masters said. Although the fungus is not fatal, it further weakens a tree.

“Trees that might have been able to handle the winter injury alone are struggling with other influencing factors.”

Ornamental trees were not the only plants that suffered this past winter, which saw temperatures drop to zero degrees or below for seven days in January and three in February. As The Dispatch reported in May, commercial fruit trees and plants including ivy, boxwood, holly, butterfly bushes, azaleas, rhododendrons and Knockout roses were damaged.

Unfortunately for homeowners, arborists advise against planting new trees in the middle of summer, when the heat and drought can make it difficult for trees to become established.

jweiker@dispatch.com

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